We describe here the use of the southern blot hybridization technique to diagnose T-cell lymphoid malignancies by detecting clonal T-cell receptor gene rearrangements. DNA was isolated from human T-cell leukemia cell lines, peripheral blood or bone marrow cells of various leukemia patients and lymph nodes of malignant lymphoma patients, and analyzed for the presence of rearranged T-cell receptor genes, using radiolabeled T-cell recptor cDNA as probes. Among the specimen examined, clonal T-cell receptor gene rearrangements were found only in human T-cell leukemia cell lines and leukemic cells from T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients, not in non T-cell tumor cell ines, B cell lymphomas, and other types of leukemic cells from leukmia patients. These cells were checked with panels of monoclonal antibodies detecting T-cell, B-cell and other types of hematopoietic cells. Our studies indicate that detection of T-cell receptor gene rearrangement is a valuable methad for T-cell lineage specificity and clonal T-cell proliferation.
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